Gettaing T-Bird to recognize old profile
I've installed T-Bird, the latest version (91 I think) on drive D:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird. My old profile is in D:\ThunderbirdProfile\jyOahqqrm.default. The installation is a Virtual Win 7 Pro OS running under Ubuntu 22.04. Everything on this virtual OS runs fine including connection to the internet. What I want to do is to point Thunderbird to this old profile without moving it so when I click on Thunderbird, it opens my old profile. I asked this identical question about a year ago and got vague answers that were no help. I need Step-By-Step directions and will donate $50 USD to Mozilla if someone can show me how to do this. Please, telling me that it can be done in about:profiles is not an answer. I have no idea what that means and I don't know where my ini file is located. Right now when I open T-Bird I get to a set up screen. What I need is T-Bird to open my "old" profile (jyOahqqrm.default). Thank you.
Chosen solution
You are not reaching the profile manager and I do not know how to run a command line command . BUT, there's another way. Start TB and go through steps to create an account (we're going to throw this away - it's just a step to get to the main menu). Once in TB, click Help>more troubleshooting information. Once there, scroll down left side to Profiles - click about:profiles . On next screen, click 'create new profile'.. On that screen, create a name, e.g., MYPROFILE and browse to and select your desired profile. continue to TB and, if that is a complete profile, you should be good. please let me know how that goes.
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I don't know Ubuntu, so let's take the 'easy' route. What we want to do is open the Profile Manager. That is done by executing thunderbird.exe with -p as a passed parameter. In windows, this is done with a command line statement of thunderbird.exe -p . If there is the equivalent of a shortcut icon on desktop, as occurs in windows, open it (rightclick does it in windows) and add the -p a space or two to right of the appearance of thunderbird.exe - then close the shortcut
Okay, assuming that's done, start TB and the profile manager will open. Select 'create profile' and browse to and select the desired profile. Give it a name within profile manager, such as MYPROFILE. Continue to tb and it should open your profile properly. These commands work perfectly with Windows users and I hope your knowledge of Linux lets you execute this. Once done, of course, remove the -p
Everything worked fine until I opened Thunderbird. I'm taken to a blank Account Setup page. There are two other tabs at the top of the page, Home and and Thunderbird Privacy Notice. I've been here many times. I
Chosen Solution
You are not reaching the profile manager and I do not know how to run a command line command . BUT, there's another way. Start TB and go through steps to create an account (we're going to throw this away - it's just a step to get to the main menu). Once in TB, click Help>more troubleshooting information. Once there, scroll down left side to Profiles - click about:profiles . On next screen, click 'create new profile'.. On that screen, create a name, e.g., MYPROFILE and browse to and select your desired profile. continue to TB and, if that is a complete profile, you should be good. please let me know how that goes.
David: Thanks for your help. Actually I found an old MozBak file on a USB I had not used in over a year. Sure enough, there was a T-Bird backup only a year old. Downloaded MozBak and reinstalled the back up. Problem solved. Regardless, I will make a small donation to Mozilla as promised. Cheers, Richard Smiley
I'm glad it all worked out. Save the instructions, though. You may need them someday. :)